Am I normal?

jenniferfields10 · Nov 19, 2009

I'll just jump right into this:
I just cranked out a fantasy novel in less than three months. This is my second novel, my first taking me seven months and every waking minute of the day to complete. I just want to know, is this normal or am I just being reckless?
For the record, I felt inspired, and it was the easiest thing I've ever written. It was as if it was writing itself.

BigWords · Nov 19, 2009

Well done on writing it so fast. There is no "normal" when it comes to my writing, and you'll probably find that different novels take different lengths of time to take shape. The stories which write themselves are my favorites to write...

Wayne K · Nov 19, 2009

I wrote my second book in three weeks.

It took me ten months to revise revise revise, rewrite, revise revise revise, rewrite and edit and revise. Now I'm editing it with an agent.

Pssst, the first draft is an illusion. It's a ball of clay. Now you get to shape it.

knight_tour · Nov 19, 2009

It took me twenty years of thinking and three years of writing to get through the first 50,000 words of my book, but then I polished off the last 80,000 words in less than three months. I'm still editing, though...

stephenf · Nov 20, 2009

Who wants to be normal?I don't.

Ruv Draba · Nov 20, 2009

jenniferfields10 said:
I'll just jump right into this:
I just cranked out a fantasy novel in less than three months. This is my second novel, my first taking me seven months and every waking minute of the day to complete. I just want to know, is this normal or am I just being reckless?
For the record, I felt inspired, and it was the easiest thing I've ever written. It was as if it was writing itself.

For me it's a quantity vs quality thing... If I think about my scenes before writing them I might get a couple of thousand words a day at full speed, but they're solid scenes and I can use 80-90% of them with light editing. If I don't think about them I might get two or three times that output, but it's 60% unusuable and 40% needs rewriting. The text reads okay, but the scenes themselves go awry. I can't really call my writing the draft of a novel unless the scenes are basically the right ones, with the right characters having the right conflicts and leading to the right places.

SPMiller · Nov 20, 2009

I wrote the first draft of my first novel in a little less than six months. However, it has languished in revision and rewriting ever since.

The same can be said of my short stories. I always spend far more time on revision/rewriting than on the original writing.

A first draft is just a beginning, and not a very good beginning at that.

badducky · Nov 20, 2009

You're fine.

http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2008/07/31/how-to-write-a-novel-in-30-days/

and

http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2008/01/15/how-to-write-a-novel-in-two-months/

Every process is different, and these different processes produce very different results. It's interesting, to me, to find out the workday of different writers I adore.

For me, I can only really do my best writing on lazy days-off. I'm sitting here, surfing the internet and working on another tab. I can produce short stories real quick, because I can smell the end even when I begin, but novels take me at least a year. Different processes for every writer, and different results.

LostInReality · Nov 20, 2009

Welcome to the not normal club! I wrote my YA in less than three weeks. I re-read and agonized over it for four more months before tackling the revisions that needed to be done. Once I sat down to do them it only took me a month...and during that time, I wrote an adult romantic suspense novel!

I don't necessarily believe slow is better. It all depends on you, your mindset, and the story you are telling.

I'm a religious outliner and I think (for me, at least) that the trick to turning out great scenes quickly is preparation and knowing not only how your action will play out but also your characters' reactions even before you begin putting it all on paper.

jenniferfields10 · Nov 20, 2009

I'm a religious outliner and I think (for me, at least) that the trick to turning out great scenes quickly is preparation and knowing not only how your action will play out but also your characters' reactions even before you begin putting it all on paper.[/QUOTE]

Outlining has been the key for me as well. I made a general outline before I even thought about once upon a time, and I believe I found my niche doing so. After completing the outline, I felt that I knew the characters, storyline and plot as if I'd already written it. Then it was just a matter of elaboration the outline to novel length.
Thank you all for helping me realize that there is no "normal" in writing.

Judg · Nov 20, 2009

I keep trying to produce an outline ahead of time and I just can't do it. Well, I can, but it's such a bare-bones thing that it just provides a general direction. I discover the rest as I write.

So my first drafts are very slow, but on the other hand, they don't require extensive revision.

MGraybosch · Nov 20, 2009

jenniferfields10 said:
I'll just jump right into this:
I just cranked out a fantasy novel in less than three months. This is my second novel, my first taking me seven months and every waking minute of the day to complete. I just want to know, is this normal or am I just being reckless?

Are you doing multiple drafts?

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 20, 2009

There is no normal when it comes to writers.

LostInReality · Nov 20, 2009

Judg said:
I keep trying to produce an outline ahead of time and I just can't do it. Well, I can, but it's such a bare-bones thing that it just provides a general direction. I discover the rest as I write.

So my first drafts are very slow, but on the other hand, they don't require extensive revision.

I know what you mean about bare bones outlines...my first one is just a skeleton...then as I move forward, it gets filled in. I am constantly outlining as I write. I try not to tie myself down too much as some of my best story arcs come when I veer away from the original outline....but me being me, this will just prompt me to revise the outline so I still have direction.

Anal, I know...but for me, it is ALL about the outline

knight_tour · Nov 20, 2009

I like to just outline main plot points for each main character, and then allow the characters themselves to fill in the story around the plot points.

ChaosTitan · Nov 20, 2009

Everyone writes at their own pace. Some folks can crank out a good, solid draft in only a few months. Other folks need a year or more to produce a so-so draft that still needs heavy editing. Our brains all work differently, so we're not going to write the same way or at the same speed.

Straka · Nov 20, 2009

jenniferfields10 said:
I'll just jump right into this:
I just cranked out a fantasy novel in less than three months. This is my second novel, my first taking me seven months and every waking minute of the day to complete. I just want to know, is this normal or am I just being reckless?
For the record, I felt inspired, and it was the easiest thing I've ever written. It was as if it was writing itself.

Like most have said, there is no normal.

I wrote a 110K manuscript in 30 days. I then spent the next 2 years shaping it into something (hopefully) publishable.

It's good that you have momentum, but if you're like me, now you need to go back and more likely rewrite a lot of it. When the draft is done, I turn to looking at the small details and scenes and rewriting them to be tighter and stronger.

Jon_S · Nov 20, 2009

I wrote my first (and only, so far) sci-fi novel in 30 days. It's a bit on the short side at 70,000 words, and it's "only" in the 2nd draft, but it really doesn't matter how long it takes to write a book. I actually think this book is the best thing I've ever written...

Freelancer · Nov 20, 2009

Yes, this time is really good, but it's really matter what time you run, the essence is to create quality by my opinion. I've written a full TV episode screenplay within four days + one day edit (That's my best time for 54 pages. It's also one of my favorite piece of work, while I written that back in 2002. I'm still wondering it's became a quality work.). And my absolute negative record is my present WIP with 6 years of development in overall (350k+ words in novel within 2 years, 9x90 pages in screenplays also within 2 years and 2 years of research and development.). But it's became a quality and well detailed WIP. So, there is no normal time. The essence is to create quality and take the time what is necessary.

One last thing. Writing a novel isn't a race. It never was.

Tanydwr · Nov 22, 2009

I've never been normal. I wrote most of my first novel in bed before I went to sleep (and some weekends) from the ages of eleven to thirteen in response to being told we were moving areas again. Admittedly even the rewritten version of that novel will never see the light of day...

I think it varies. I write in spurts - I wrote a twenty-thousand word story arc in one novel and could then barely touch it for three months because I couldn't work out where to go from there. I also write more than one novel at a time that doesn't help things...

Who cares about normal? Your problem now is editing. *grins*

MGraybosch · Nov 22, 2009

By the way, being "normal" is vastly overrated. "Normal" people don't write.

jennontheisland · Nov 22, 2009

MGraybosch said:
"Normal" people don't write.

This.

So, no, you're not.

mscelina · Nov 22, 2009

My first drafts happen ungodly fast, sometimes to the tune of 8 to 10k per day. It depends on how badly I want to know what happens next in the story.

My final drafts can emerge anywhere from several months to (in one case) twenty years later. So far, the overall fastest manuscript I've written was six months from first word to first query and clocked in with a final word count of 105k. Thank God there aren't any 'right' ways to write a story. I'd break every single rule out there.

You write the story as quickly or as slowly as it wants to be written.

Am I normal?

jenniferfields10

BigWords

Geekzilla

Wayne K

knight_tour

Fantasy Tourist

stephenf

Ruv Draba

SPMiller

Prodigiously Hanged

badducky

No Time For Chitchat, Kemosabe.

LostInReality

jenniferfields10

Judg

DISENCHANTED coming soon

MGraybosch

Lunch Break Novelist

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

LostInReality

knight_tour

Fantasy Tourist

ChaosTitan

Around

Straka

Bored Fanatic

Jon_S

I'm cool

Freelancer

Tanydwr

MGraybosch

Lunch Break Novelist

jennontheisland

the world is at my command

mscelina

Teh doommobile, drivin' rite by you